Tuesday, January 07, 2014

NAFTALI BENNETT SAYS NO TO 1967 BORDER LINES

The term “1967 lines” has been used regarding talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in reference to the PA claim of ownership to all land that was under Jordanian control between 1949 and 1967.

The words have been used to conceal the true weight of the concessions being demanded, Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) warned Tuesday, in a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies.

“Friends, the games are over. We won’t play with words anymore: the ’67 lines’ means splitting Jerusalem, and giving up the Mount of Olives – where Menachem Begin, Rabbi Kook, and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda are buried – and giving up the Kotel, the Temple Mount and the Old City,” he declared.

“How will history remember a leader who agrees to give up Jerusalem? How will it remember the first leader in Jewish history who dares to do that? And what’s more, to do it voluntarily?” Bennett asked.

“Is the prayer of Jews worldwide, ‘In Your mercy, return to Your city, Jerusalem’ a party slogan, which can be changed overnight?” he demanded.

A concession like that may win Israel temporary goodwill from the international community, Bennett said, but it would come at a high price: “another round of attacks and terrorism, which we would come into weaker than before, and with no moral right to defend ourselves after having declared that what is ours – is not ours,” he warned.

However, Bennett did not say that the Jewish Home would leave the government automatically over any agreement.

Bennett’s remarks came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry left the region having yet to win agreement from the sides on a framework for continued negotiations toward a permanent deal. Some reports suggest he will return as soon as next week.

Nice of Bennett to lash out, but he's going to have to be a lot more convincing if he wants to defend the country properly.